There’s an awful lot of wisdom packed into Peter Russell’s new short film, From Science to God. Movie buffs who are hip to the new trend in science/spiritual cinema (like What the Bleep Do We know?) will find this latest offering very rewarding. Readers who love Eckhart Tolle’s works or Michael Brown’s The Presence Process will enjoy seeing familiar themes in a new format, and readers who are familiar with Peter Russell’s last book The Global Brain will be intrigued by the author’s expansion into new media.

For a short film (23 minutes), Russell is tackling some pretty big issues — what is consciousness? Why do we have this capacity to be self-aware? What if everything around us has some form of consciousness? Of course, these are questions that philosophers and eastern religions have been debating for thousands of years, but Russell’s talent is to make these conundrums instantly accessible and set in a modern context, i.e., downtown Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. There is a delightful sequence wherein Russell is talking about the human desire for possessions and “more things” while the camera follows him down Rodeo Drive — the most expensive shopping real estate in the world. You can’t ask for more accessible than that!

Russell does a commendable job of telescoping hundreds of years of science in a manageable way in order to get to his main points — that science still can’t explain what consciousness is or where it comes from, and that most scientists are stuck in the old paradigms — much like the old astronomers that believed that the universe revolved around the earth. Russell’s own background studying mathematics and physics is apparent here, as is his other main point — the need to reconcile the best of science with the wisdom of the ancient religions and philosophies. As Russell points out, brain activity doesn’t explain consciousness — but you should watch the film for how cogently he explains why this is so.

In the end, Russell arrives at the common point of all ancient traditions — what is the purpose of self-awareness and how to solve the problem of being versus doing. Viewers get a short course in “being” that is worth the price of admission, and some good tips on how to achieve peace of mind. (Hint: it doesn’t include buying “more things.”)

Kudos to Peter Russell for moving into new frontiers and for this powerful film. Also points to producer Kathy Close, director David Chapman, and to The Hartley Foundation (www.hartleyfoundation.org) for bringing this to the public.

Peter Russell is a fellow of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, of The World Business Academy and of The Findhorn Foundation, and an Honorary Member of The Club of Budapest.His principal interest is the deeper, spiritual significance of the times we are passing through. He has written several books in this area -- The TM Technique, The Upanishads, The Brain Book, The Global Brain Awakens, The Creative Manager, The Consciousness Revolution, Waking Up in Time, and From Science to God.(http://www.peterussell.com/pete.html)

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